Senate Gets Bill to Review Operation of Immigration Law

June 28, 1955

WASHINGTON (Jun. 27)

A bill to establish a Commission on Immigration and Naturalization Policy, to review the operation of the McCarran-Walter Immigration Act, and to recommend changes in the Act in the light of experience under its various provisions, was introduced in the Senate today by Sen. John F. Kennedy.

The Commission proposed in the bill is modelled along the lines of the Hoover Commission on Government Reorganization, with 12 members to be appointed by the President, the Vice-President and the Speaker of the House, including six members from private life, two from the executive branch, and two from each House of Congress. The bill, assuming Congress takes action on it during the present session, provides that the Commission shall submit its final report not later than May 31, 1956.

Speaking before the Senate, Sen. Kennedy said: “There can be little disagreement over the need to amend the McCarran-Walter Immigration Act. The difficulty is in determining exactly what amendments are desirable at this time. The entire subject of immigration–which involves a legal jungle of complex and technical details that very few members of Congress are able to comprehend in their entirety–has become further confused with issues of partisan politics and emotional and prejudicial exchanges of extravagant praise and criticism.”